The cost of mold testing is highly variable. For lack of standards and regulations in the industry, the quality of mold testing is also highly variable. Currently, it is difficult for consumers to know whether they are being ripped off in mold testing or not. When hiring a mold testing company, consumers should consider not only the cost of mold testing but also the scope of work and the quality. It’s difficult to evaluate the quality of a service that has not been rendered. However, a bit of research about the company could help in deciding if it’s a company that can be trusted. Understanding what mold testing involves is critical.
To illustrate why considering cost if mold testing a lone when hiring a mold testing company is not a good idea, let’s consider a hypothetical mold testing case.
Let’s say your house has a basement, 3 bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, dining room and 2 bathrooms. You suspect there could be mold somewhere but you have no idea where the mold could be. You want to hire a company to do the mold testing. For the sake of this example, let’s assume the following costs:
1. Mold inspection (i.e., visual inspection involving walking around looking for sources/signs of mould in the house): $350.00
2. Cost of sample analysis in the lab: $100.00 per sample.
For this work Company “A” may charge $590 while company “B” could quote $950. If you were to considers the cost only, you would hire company “A” because their cost of mold testing is lower by $360. However, let’s now consider the services the 2 companies intend to provide. Company “A” would come in and probably take an air sample in the living room and another outdoors and no visual inspection at all. Their fee includes the $350 for mold inspection which they didn’t perform (or just assume taking samples is mould inspection) and $240 for the sample analysis and shipping costs. Taking this samples would take less than an hour.
Company “B” would perform a thorough inspection, take air samples (and a few tape samples) from the basement and from each of the other rooms. Their fee includes $350 plus $600 for sample analysis and shipping. By inspecting all the rooms and taking samples where necessary, company “B” is likely to detect the mold problem (if it is there) while company “A” would miss it. This work would take company “B” at least 1 and a half hours.
From this hypothetical example, the 2 companies actually make the same amount of money from this project but company “B” has provided quality service. However, although company “A” are doing a shoddy job, they are likely to get more business since they appear cheap to the consumer who doesn’t know what mold testing involves.
Before considering the cost of mold testing, make sure the company you’re using is credible and qualified to conduct mold testing.
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